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New Guard Force Finds Welcome on Streets of Baghdad By Edward Cody Washington Post Foreign Service Friday, July 2, 2004; Page A01 BAGHDAD, July 1 -- A large Iraqi flag flapping on his Soviet-era jeep, 1st Lt. Shehab Abdul-Jabbar led an Iraqi National Guard patrol down Baghdad's heavily commercial Karadah Street. As he passed, merchants and shoppers smiled and waved their greetings. "Way to go," one man shouted from behind the small charcoal stove where he was grilling a splayed fish for lunch. "People are comfortable with this," said Abdul-Jabbar, 38, an officer freshly minted from a U.S.-provided training course...

ISTANBUL, Turkey (June 28) -- NATO leaders at a summit meeting in Istanbul agreed Monday to offer training to the security forces of Iraq's new interim government, which formally took power in Baghdad just hours earlier. ''They have agreed it,'' NATO spokesman James Appathurai told Reuters. The 26 NATO leaders gathered in Turkey's business capital had the final word on the deal hammered out last week by alliance ambassadors in Brussels. NATO envoys had wrangled for 24 hours over how to respond to Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's request for help for his security forces, which are battling a wide-scale...

ISTANBUL, June 27 — President Bush reassured Turkey on Sunday that it was once again a friend in good standing, despite its refusal to support American troops in the invasion of Iraq last year. Meanwhile, administration officials pressed other reluctant NATO allies to commit themselves to rebuilding Iraq's security forces. On the eve of a two-day NATO summit meeting that will be dominated by Iraq and the rifts caused by the American invasion, Mr. Bush concentrated on the theme of reconciliation and on refocusing the alliance to use its military muscle in new ways, especially in Iraq. "We are going...

Chirac leads resistance as Bush courts Nato allies Ian Black and Michael White in Istanbul Monday June 28, 2004 The Guardian President George Bush was facing stiff French-led resistance last night to his efforts to persuade his Nato allies to agree to train Iraqi security forces. The French president, Jacques Chirac, is determined to thwart any deal that allows the US and Britain to claim that the alliance has a formal role in the disputed occupation. Tony Blair flew into Istanbul last night intent on talking up the summit's chance of achieving even a modest success in respect of Iraq...

ISTANBUL, Turkey - NATO (news - web sites) closed ranks Sunday on a pledge to take a bigger military role in Iraq (news - web sites) as violence and bloodshed surged before the delicate political turnover in Baghdad. President Bush (news - web sites) declared that the alliance was poised to "meet the threats of the 21st century." Determined to offer support for the fledgling Iraqi government that takes power Wednesday, NATO leaders were ready to announce a plan to train and equip Iraq's struggling security forces to deal with lawlessness and terrorism. Bush will join British Prime Minister Tony...

ISTANBUL, Turkey(CP)-Canada may be willing to take part in a NATO plan to train Iraq's new security forces, but would stop short of committing soldiers to the war-ravaged country, says Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham. As members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization prepared to gather for a summit meeting Monday, Graham said, "we might be able to help" Iraq's army find its feet.

BAGHDAD, Iraq, June 26 — On a recent afternoon in his new office in the heavily fortified Green Zone, Lt. Gen. David H. Petraeus, a celebrated American field commander, sketched his vision for how America's forces might one day extract themselves from this country. "I know where this ends," said General Petraeus, 51, who earlier this month took control of a vast project to oversee the training of Iraqi security forces. "It ends with the Iraqis in charge of their country. You get as many Iraqis as possible to have a stake in the success of the new Iraq to...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Even in a country ravaged by 15 months of war, the scene was horrific: a woman's head had been placed on a box containing the ashes of her cremated body. This was her punishment for working as an interpreter for U.S. forces in Iraq. Another interpreter was pursued on his way from work by men spraying his car with an assault rifle. They left him for dead after his car flipped over in a ditch. Insurgents entered the home of an Iraqi National Guard battalion, tied his family up and threatened to kill them if the commander...

Kurdish militias merge with security forces as officials declare state of alert Baghdad, Iraq Press, June 27, 2004 – Kurdish leaders Massoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani have passed the command of their peshmerga fighters to the interim government as it gears up for the transfer of power on June 31. The merger of the fighters with the Iraqi security forces is a boost to the interim government of Ayad Allawi. Allawi has raised the preparedness of Iraq’s security forces to the highest level, canceling leaves and setting up check points at key areas and intersections in major Iraqi cities. The...

  Iraqi Security Forces and first responders perform well during attacksMOSUL, IRAQ - A series of attacks in Mosul on June 24, that included four or five car bomb explosions and a rocket-propelled grenade attack, resulted in a "hardening of wills" by many senior Iraqi government and security force leaders, according to Brig. Gen. Carter Ham, commander of Task Force Olympia. "The response to these attacks was almost entirely Iraqi - Iraqi police, Iraqi National Guard, explosive ordnance disposal, ambulances, fire stations and medical teams," Ham said. "The first responders did a great job. I am very happy with...

Iraqi Security Forces Open the First JCC in Northern IraqStory by Task Force OlympiaMOSUL, IRAQ – The Iraqi Security Forces in the Ninevah Province increased their ability to protect Iraqi citizens and to react to emergencies, when they opened the first Joint Coordination Center in northern Iraq June 23. All security operations will operate from the Mosul JCC where a representative from every security force element will be stationed to facilitate coordination. Representatives from the Iraqi National Guard, Iraqi Police, Facility Protection Services and Iraqi Armed Forces will be stationed at the JCC to efficiently fight crime and terrorism....

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – NATO nations' ambassadors struck a tentative deal on an agreement late Friday to help the interim Iraqi government train its security forces after hours of wrangling over the wording, diplomats said. "We've agreed it, we've agreed on it tentatively," one diplomat said. He said members of the 26-nation alliance would have until 6 a.m. EDT Saturday to raise objections, after which time the wording of a statement to be released at a NATO summit in Istanbul Monday and Tuesday would be deemed to have been adopted.

  Iraqi Security Forces repel anti-Iraqi attacks CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq -- Anti-Iraqi forces attacked three police stations and the government center in Ramadi the morning of June 24. The attacks appear to be a coordinated attempt to disrupt key municipal services within the city. Specifically, at the Qatana Police Station, 14 anti-Iraqi fighters entered the station, forced the Iraqi police to leave, set explosives and vacated the scene. The ensuing blast destroyed the station. Iraqi security forces responded and successfully repelled the various attacks. I Marine Expeditionary Force Marines deployed quick reaction forces to assist and supplement the Iraqi...

First Published 2004-06-24, Last Updated 2004-06-24 13:50:05Tanks back on the streets Analysis: Attacks on Iraqi security forces aim for chaos before handover Worse expected to follow as anti-occupation forces unit to destabilise future government. By Deborah Haynes – BAGHDAD Iraq's nascent security forces bore the brunt of a wave of coordinated attacks Thursday as insurgents turned up the heat before the US-led occupation ends next week, with worse expected to follow. Some 70 people were killed and more than 260 wounded as rebels in the central cities of Baquba, Fallujah and Ramadi as well as Mosul to the north launched dawn assaults...

Insurgents launched coordinated attacks against police and government buildings across Sunni Muslim areas of Iraq Thursday, killing 66 Iraqis and three US soldiers less than a week before the handover of power. The Iraqi Health Ministry said 268 people were wounded in the attack, but that tally did not include American injured. The large number of attacks, mostly directed at Iraqi security services, was a clear sign of just how powerful the insurgency in Iraq remains - and could be the start of a new push to torpedo the June 30 transfer of sovereignty to an interim transitional government. Some...

Iraq Success Depends Upon Iraqi-Provided Security, Wolfowitz Says By Gerry J. GilmoreAmerican Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, June 22, 2004 – Success in Iraq is predicated on Iraqis eventually assuming responsibility for their own security, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz told a House panel today. And the security situation in Iraq today "is incredibly serious," Wolfowitz acknowledged in testimony before the House Armed Services Committee. Wolfowitz, who just returned from a visit to Iraq June 16-19, provided his insights just eight days before the June 30 handover of sovereignty. Die-hard Saddamists and Islamic fundamentalists sowing terror and instability across...

CAMP INDIA, Iraq(June 20, 2004) -- There aren't any of the famed yellow footprints, but Iraqis are learning the basics of soldiering, courtesy of the U.S. Marines. More than 30 Iraqi men, 18-to-37-years-old from the city of Zadan, got their first taste of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps boot camp. The seven-day basic training package is taught by Marines. The first day of boot camp began with a speech from the commanding officer before the recruits are introduced to their drill instructors - Marines ranging in rank from privates first class to sergeants. "I respect you for what you're doing...

Interior Ministry stages exercises on how to maintain security as handover looms Baghdad, Iraq Press, June 22, 2004 – The security forcers under the command of the Interior Ministry are staging large-scale exercises in several areas of the capital Baghdad. The games come a few days ahead of the handover of sovereignty to the Iraqis. The exercises are interpreted here as a message to insurgents, who have intensified their attacks in the run-up to sovereignty, that the security forces are in control. Thousands of police, traffic and emergency officers are involved in the exercises during which they are being trained...

Iraqi Government Reshapes Forces for National Security By John D. BanusiewiczAmerican Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, June 21, 2004 – The prime minister of Iraq's interim government announced organizational changes for the country's security forces, along with a plan for taking on Iraq's enemies, at a June 20 Baghdad news conference. Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said his government is committed to confronting the threats it faces when sovereignty transfers to the Iraqi people June 30. He pointed out the continued presence of sabotage elements in Iraq, including those from Saddam's former regime and foreign elements. These "oppose the aspirations of...

Allawi's vision for Iraq security By Dumeetha Luthra BBC correspondent in Baghdad The interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has promised tough new measures against the insurgents. He has said he will reorganise the security forces to increase their effectiveness in combating the violence that is destabilising the country. Since the new government was appointed on 1 June there has been a wave of car bombs, three senior Iraqi officials have been killed and the oil infrastructure has been seriously damaged. Mr Allawi wants to put an Iraqi stamp on security in the country and wants to make it...